Ukraine's energy needs for the coming decades are estimated at least $91 billion, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Denys Shmyhal said during a dialogue with Canadian entrepreneurs attended by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Shmyhal said that in February, together with his Canadian counterpart Tim Hodgson, he signed a Memorandum on Strategic Cooperation between Ukraine and Canada in the energy sector. According to him, its main focus is not assistance, but investment.
"The political doors are open. Now it is the task of business to come forward with specific projects," he stressed.
According to Shmyhal, Ukraine is also removing barriers for businesses and has already created three levels of lending for new energy projects. In addition, the time required to issue technical conditions for connecting new generation capacity has been reduced from 10 days to two, while the number of required documents has been cut from seven to two.
He also announced the launch of a tender for the construction of 1.5 GW of new highly flexible generation capacity. The scale of auction-based support in 2026 has been increased more than threefold, to 1 GW.
Shmyhal said that Ukraine represents a large market for Canadian energy businesses, integrated into the EU, with resources, demand for energy capital and equipment for decades to come, as well as a strategic location.
At the same time, according to him, Canada has long-term capital, technology, engineering expertise and financial risk-mitigation instruments.
"We propose combining these advantages, creating new transatlantic energy chains, ensuring the energy security of Ukraine and Europe, and strengthening Canada's economic presence in the European energy market," Shmyhal said.
